No Confidence at New Mexico

Submitted by Doug Lederman on February 26, 2009 - 7:02pm

Faculty members at the University of New Mexico voted 329 to 106 Wednesday that they have no confidence in President Schmidly. The resolution cited a "substantive increase of administrative lines and costs at the expense of necessary faculty lines, thus weakening the university's ability to cover its core mission of teaching, research, and service" and also said that Schmidly "has breached his administration's commitment to public transparency and shared governance." In a statement,[1] the president said: "While the decisions we have made may have not been popular with some, we have nevertheless so far managed to avoid any layoffs or furloughs, unlike so many other colleges and universities. ... Nevertheless, the University of New Mexico is a family, and as I said yesterday, we will redouble our efforts to reach out and gain the support and confidence of every member."